THE ATLANTIS PROJECT PART 3

THE ATLANTIS PROJECT PART 3

"ATLANTIS VARIATIONS" FOR SOLO PIANO by DEREK STRAHAN

Released on Revolve CD “Atlantis Variations” (RDS009

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THE ATLANTIS PROJECT Part 1, posted on Linked In, offers an overview of my research on the genesis of and the background to the story of Atlantis as first told by Plato and further explored by many writers over the intervening millennia! It also offers details of my proposed 4-opera cycle on this subject, for which all libretti have been written, and for which over two hours of music has been written in “preparatory” chamber works.

THE ATLANTIS PROJECT Part 2, posted on Linked In, offers the opportunity to hear one of these works in audio tracks posted at SoundCloud.

"ATLANTIS" A Work for Flute/Alto Flute & Piano by DEREK STRAHAN.

The work was composed with the Assistance of the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts funding and advisory body. The audio is of the live premiere performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the Graduation Recital of Ms. Belinda Gough, 13/11/1992. SoundCloud tracks from live recording as performed by Belinda Gough, flute/alto flute and Josephine Allan, piano. The work has since been performed at Graduation recitals in Australia at Adelaide and Newcastle Conservatoria.

BELINDA GOUGH

JOSEPHINE ALLAN

“ATLANTIS” was performed in Adelaide, South Australia, at a forthcoming lunchtime concert given by Recitals Australia at 12.10pm on November 8, 2017, by flautist Jennifer Bird and pianist Won Jung Lee. The venue is: Pilgrim Church, 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide (Located behind the Adelaide Town Hall). For further information on all Recital Australia’s activities please visit: recitalsaustralia.org.au - or phone on 08 8266 4936

Message from Monika Laczofy, who organised the recital: "The concert went very well & I’ve heard lots of very positive comments about Atlantis. The audience read all your program notes with great interest, the girls enjoyed preparing the work & played well."

Jennifer Bird

Won Jung Lee

THE ATLANTIS PROJECT Part 3 presents another work that develops ideas, themes and motifs for inclusion in the proposed opera cycle.

"ATLANTIS VARIATIONS" FOR SOLO PIANO by DEREK STRAHAN

I invite you to hear the entire work through audio links to Soundcloud to each of the work’s 17 segments (tracks) with full program notes. These detail musical content and extra-musical program influences, including how these relate to the composer’s several works in his “Atlantis” project – a 4-opera cycle on the mythology and speculative writings on the topic, as covered in the following sections:

** REFLECTIONS BY THE COMPOSER OF A GENERAL NATURE REGARDING MUSICAL FORM

** HISTORICAL BASIS FOR THE PROGRAM

** LINKS TO SOUNDCLOUD FOR AUDIO + PROGRAM NOTES

** BIBLIOGRAPHY

** PERFORMANCE NOTES

MAYAN ZODIAC CALENDAR

REFLECTIONS BY THE COMPOSER OF A GENERAL NATURE:

** THE RELATIONSHIP OF EXTRA-MUSICAL PROGRAM TO MUSICAL CONTENT, FORM AND STRUCTURE. ** RESULTING INTERACTION THEREOF.

This page of reflections was written in 1992 shortly after completing this work. I was feeling defensive about then writing the program notes, because of all the extra-musical factors that impinged on the creative process. Since the music is intended for an opera, I don’t feel that I should have felt this way. But I did, and this is what I wrote:

In the Classical Period, composers were required to write music in accordance with pre-determined structures (such as sonata form, rondo, binary, or ternary form, fugue and, as a concession to the undisciplined, romance, or fantasia.). In the 19th century, composers began to invent their own structures sometimes using a literary narrative as the basis for a musical form. Often, within the macrocosm of the piece there were sections that corresponded to movements, and in such microcosms, elements of formal structure were employed. In earlier times it was not only instrumental music that was subject to formal strictures. Music theatre had its forms and these, too, were greatly modified in opera during the romantic period. I have never been impressed by the value judgements that hold “program” music to be a lesser form of art than “abstract” music. I think many composers had their own “program”, but kept it hidden out of a sense of decorum. This was a social consideration, not an artistic one! I don't believe that music becomes more "pure" the more "abstract" it professes to be. Consequently I don't believe it becomes less "pure” by having a "program" attached to it. For me, a program has a dual purpose:

1.    It determines the emotional and psychological ethos the composer wishes to evoke. In response to this task, or rite of evocation the composer must: 

2.    Develop a musical language and a structure appropriate to the ritual purpose of the music. In developing these a composer inherits some given elements and seeks to invent some. The given elements are the nature of sound and the present state of the art. The invented elements, I believe, result partly from conscious manipulation, and partly as an unconscious by-product of absorption in the task of composition. The reason why I value having a "program" to work to, is because I value the unconscious elements in composing which are activated in response to it. In detailing some history, some narrative, and then a structure, I am reproducing the process that I went through in order to prepare myself for the task of composing. Until I had gone through this process, I was not able to begin my work.

 Of course, I hope the music stands on its own, without the need of a "program": but to keep the "program" a secret would make as much sense, for me, as denying that a work of music theatre has extra-musical connotations. "ATLANTIS VARIATIONS" is part of a series of smaller scale works in which I endeavour to develop material intended for a cycle of operas based on the topic of Atlantis; so that, although it is primarily a concert work, I also hope that it is inherently dramatic.

This work was commissioned through the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1992. The pianist for whom it was written chose, at this point in his career, to devote the next decade or so to studying for performance, for broadcast and for recording, all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. I can hardly complain because his preference was for playing Ludwig’s music over mine! – and moreover the good news for all other piano virtuosi is that the opportunity to give the world premiere of this work is still open!! I hope you may think the work has both musical and theatrical value. It does present technical challenges but these are not, I trust, beyond the capabilities of a virtuoso pianist seeking a good showpiece for a recital.

MAYAN CALENDAR

** HISTORICAL BASIS FOR THE PROGRAM

Most Mayan literature was destroyed in a series of gigantic auto da fe in Mexico lit by jealous Spanish priests following in the footsteps of the Conquistadores. (Most Aztec literature suffered a similar fate). Fortunately a key to deciphering part of Mayan sign language survived in the work of the second archbishop of Yucatan, Diego de Landa, who, despite encouraging the book burning, was thoughtful enough to leave a record of the symbols which the Mayans used to denote their numbers, days and months. This sign language was found in the countless reliefs that cover every temple, stair column and frieze in the great Mayan monuments of Yucatan (only a fraction of which have as yet been excavated). Thanks to de Landa's key it was discovered that the Mayan aesthetic had a mathematical basis; that every piece of Mayan construction was part of a great calendar in stone, which contains observations of the movement of heavenly bodies over a vast period of time: eleven millennia!

The Mayan calendar reveals a record of 21 "long counts" of the Mayan "eon" (known as "baktan”, beginning on a day that has been identified in the Gregorian calendar as June 5th, 8498 B.C. On this day there was a conjunction of the Earth, the Moon and Venus. This date also approximates to the time set for a major world geological event - the transition from the Quaternary to the (present) Quinternary Age. It also corresponds to the approximate time given by Plato for the destruction of Atlantis. Human cultures tend to begin their calendars on the date of a seminal event. For the Romans, Day One was the foundation of their capital city. For Christians, the birth of Christ. For Moslems, Mohamed’s flight from Mecca to Medina. Is it possible that the beginning of the Mayan calendar dates from the destruction of their parent civilisation? A day of global trauma, whose memory is preserved in Mayan records, in stone, and in three books which alone have survived the zealous vandalism of Spanish missionaries.

OTTO HEINRICH MUCK

Physicist, engineer, inventor, Otto Heinrich Muck offers the thesis that the triple conjunction of June 5th 8498 B.C. caused an asteroid of the Adonis Group to be diverted from its orbit shortly after reaching its perihelion (closest point to the sun). The asteroid, estimated at 10 km in diameter) was deflected from its accustomed orbit by the combined gravitational fields of Venus, the Moon and Earth. It approached the mid-Atlantic area from the West. Blazing more brightly than the sun as it entered Earth's atmosphere, it broke in two as it passed over North America. Its brittle crust shattered into lethal fragments gouging a trench of destruction over what is now Carolina. The two portions of its core plunged into what is now the Gulf of Mexico, and pierced the earth's crust. Two abyssal holes in the gulf are the scars of this cataclysmic event. Mountainous tidal waves surged from the place of impact in all directions, causing widespread inundation in coastal areas. The fracture zone known as the Atlantic Rift was severed and torn apart. Red-hot magma was released into the ocean along the rift to each end of the Atlantic.

Both the east coast of America and the west coast of Africa sank, as did the platform on which stood Atlantis, leaving only mountainous peaks visible above the sea (now the Azores). Volcanic debris from worldwide eruptions obscured the sun for centuries creating a "shadow of death", Eventually the ice caps retreated, and sea levels worldwide rose, causing further inundations, There was vast loss of life on a global scale, and many species became extinct, including, spectacularly, the great mammoths, whose carcases, still snap frozen, have been emerging intact from the Siberian tundra for centuries. (Their meat, still edible, is fed to huskies and, on one memorable occasion was served to scientists at a banquet in Moscow!) As a result of these planetary upheavals (which might also include a shifting of the north pole from Hudson Bay in Canada to its present position), the earth moved from the Quaternary to the Quinternary Age, in which we now live.

Muck’s book was written in 1954 and though some aspects of his extremely detailed thesis have been brought into question by advances in scientific knowledge over the intervening years, his Atlantic impact theory still influences current thought, makes startlingly dramatic reading, and vividly links flood myths to the effect of tsunamis. It has been referenced by writer Andrew Collins in his “Atlantis in the Caribbean: And the Comet That Changed the World” published 2016. For more on this visit – andrewcollins.com

3D image created by Dean Clarke of Atlantisite.com

It is derived from a deep-sea sonar image of an underwater pyramid located near Cuba in the Yucatan Channel. From various sources, including Mesoamerican mythologies, Collins deduces that Cuba itself and other Caribbean islands may have been part of the Atlantis landmass, rather than that the main island was centred further East at the Azores. He deduces however, from both myth and science, that there was indeed a catastrophic impact by comet that caused worldwide devastation and that fomented, in the prehistoric era, worldwide flood myths, of which the destruction of Atlantis was only one manifestation.

Two and a half millennia have passed by since Plato’s ancestor, Sais, was told by Egyptian priests the story of Atlantis that formed the basis of Plato’s famous narrative. Since then there have been many locations across the planet suggested as the true site of the fabled city, even though Plato made it abundantly clear in his text that it was located in the Atlantic Ocean west of what is now Europe. Science may eventually provide a definitive answer, but until then we can only make deductions from data both ancient and modern as to which ancient remains are colonies of a lost civilisation and which is the site of its capital. Many have noted tantalising similarities between archeological discoveries on each side of the Atlantic. Here are two step temples, the first being a reconstruction (from remains) of the Marduk Temple in Babylon dated from about 600 B.C.

The second is a reconstruction of the strikingly similar temple complex of Copan in Honduras, dating from between 200-500 A.D.

The entire continent of South America abounds in such remains in varying states of preservation, many still hidden in dense rain forest. Tourists in the Yucatan Penisula in Mexico can now gaze awestruck at entire Mayan cities cleared from the jungle by which they were formerly hidden.

"ATLANTIS VARIATIONS" adopts Muck’s chronology of impact by celestial bodies, as the basis for a musical narrative in which themes are presented and developed which are intended for use in a proposed cycle of operas based on the topic of Atlantis. The concept of a conjunction of several bodies drawing an asteroid to impact earth allows for a contrapuntal interweaving of distinct musical themes (each representing such a body) to depict the event. Other musicals themes (called ‘leitmotifs’) as indicated below, invoke both concepts and characters that form part of the narrative. The work has 13 movements, a reference to the preference of Mayan astronomers for the prime number 13. (A "baktun" is 13 counts of 144,000 days.) The 13 movements are spread over 3 parts. Some movements comprise several sections that are given separate “tracks”, the result being 17 separate tracks on the audio of the current performance.

Written in 1992, Atlantis Variations for piano is one of three works based on Plato’s account of Atlantis, written developing material for use in the proposed 4-opera cycle dealing with antediluvian civilisations of antiquity. These follow the introductory opera “Eden In Atlantis”. The second is titled “Poseidon in Atlantis” and provides a rationalisation for Plato’s assertion that Poseidon was the first ruler of Atlantis. These are followed by “Calypso In Exile” and “Atlantis Lost”. Libretti for all for (proposed) operas have been completed. In their present form they are also suitable for staging as spoken drama, (or at least for public readings) the rationale being that dramatic presentations as plays might serve to arouse interest in my writing operas based on them.

Eden In Atlantis - Google Books Result https://books.google.com.au/books?isbn=1618423142 Adam and Eve story re-written. Lucifer is a dissident scientist expelled from Celestium (at Antarctica before the pole shift), exiled to an island in the Atlantic, where a matriarchal society rules. Only Lucifer and Eve survive the catastrophe of an asteroid strike that overwhelms Paradise. (All Rights Reserved Copyright 2011 Derek Strahan)

Poseidon in Atlantis - Google Books Result https://books.google.com.au/books?isbn=1483507777 Brothers Poseidon and Zeus sail north from now icebound Celestium to conquer new territories and dock mid-ocean at Atlantis. Poseidon falls in love with Cleito, Queen of this matriarchal island society and decides to remain there. Zeus sails further north to pursue his own destiny. (All Rights Reserved Copyright 2013 Derek Strahan)

Calypso In Exile: Drama in 3 Acts - Google Books Result https://books.google.com.au/books?isbn=1483533883 On the death of Poseidon, Calypso and her sister Circe are exiled from Atlantis for practicing magic by the new ruler, their father, Atlas, and each now inhabits an isolated island. Circe forms a political alliance with the Amazons and Gorgons to defeat Atlas, but Calypso, consumed by her love for Ulysses, brings about a different ending to this ill-fated venture. (All Rights Reserved Copyright 2014 Derek Strahan)

Atlantis Lost - Google Books Result https://books.google.com.au/books?isbn=1483558746 Prometheus predicts the celestial conjunction that will overwhelm Atlantis. Epimetheus, the corrupt ruler of the empire disregards this advice, being more preoccupied with a pending invasion by Pelasgian forces. Prometheus ensures the escape of his son Deucalion, with Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, on a purpose-built ark, carrying with them valuable records of Atlantean civilisation. (All Rights Reserved Copyright 2015 Derek Strahan)

** AUDIO LINKS TO SOUNDCLOUD WITH DETAILED PROGRAM NOTES FOR PARTS 1, 2 & 3 AND EACH OF THE 13 SEGMENTS

ATLANTIS VARIATIONS FOR SOLO PIANO PART 1 (1992)

Composer’s notes

In Atlantis Variations Part 1, musical ideas are presented which denote key influences in the story of Atlantis, encompassing celestial bodies, whose movements in the heavens determine the ultimate fate of Atlantis, and humans, whose actions determine its history. Some ideas emerged in my first Atlantis chamber work - “Atlantis” for flute/alto flute & piano (1990) – and are further developed here, and other themes and motifs were created for this piece. The more elemental motifs will be used in the (proposed) first opera of the cycle, “Eden In Atlantis”, for which I wrote an exploratory 25-minute Scena for soprano, flute/alto flute & piano (1996) of the same title. This work will be presented in THE ATLANTIS PROJECT PART 4

In the first and major section of Atlantis Variations Part 1, themes are presented which were suggested by the character of celestial bodies - the familiar ones visible in the solar system: the Sun, Venus, the Moon and Earth; and ones not visible because lurking elsewhere in outer space: The Asteroid, and its companions in eccentric orbits. Leitmotifs for Poseidon, his consort Cleito, and Atlas are also interwoven. The term Variations may be understood in two musical senses of the word.

1) Formal statement of Theme followed by Variations, or use of the theme in a formal classical structure, such as a fugue. By subjecting some of these themes to a formal “theme and variations” treatment (Sun, Earth), I am, in fact, exploring their usefulness for absorption in future orchestral structures. The 2-part Asteroid theme is developed as a fugue. The signature “asteroid” melody is heard as the second subject of the fugue; the first subject is of a more visceral, wandering chromatic nature. Themes for all celestial bodies return in Part 3, as described in the program notes for that section.

2) Absorption of the theme in the fabric of a passage by literal quotation or by using elements thereof in counterpoint to other material – as would happen in an operatic score. The themes for the principal human characters are clearly stated and can occasionally be heard in counterpoint to other material. They are clearly identified in the score as leitmotifs.

The same compositional approach is used in treatment of new themes as they appear in Parts 2 and 3.

PART ONE

1 "THE SUN" Part 1 opens with music depicting the "Sun". Intense heat, solar flares set the scene for a scenario involving several celestial bodies including Earth, which will eventually fall into a conjunction that will draw an asteroid into Earth's path. The furnace of the sun is embodied in a chain of polytonal chords, which are the basis for a set of 3 variations. These seek to portray various solar activities: continuous nuclear fission; the corona; solar flares.

2 "FUGUE FOR A ROGUE ASTEROID" The asteroid is a rogue child of unpredictable character, of changeable habits, easily swayed from its usual path. A double invertible theme is introduced, in the form of a fugue. It is being slowly drawn down towards earth and eventually will impact bringing to an end the age in which Atlantis flourished.

3 "ORBITS" Asteroids of the Adonis Group follow individual, extremely eccentric, elongated, elliptical orbits, whose aphelion positions are beyond the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, and whose perihelion positions bring them very close to the sun, inside the orbits of Mars, Earth and Venus. Using musical intervals as a metaphor for celestial distance the shape of an elliptical orbit is traced by a pattern notes encompassing the entire range of the keyboard. This orbit of the rogue asteroid is heard in counterpoint to the circular orbit of planets (depicted by patterns of notes of equal intervals).

4 "VENUS" One of the heavenly bodies that eventually contribute to the fall of Atlantis when in conjunction with the Earth and the Moon. Its surface is now known to be hot with bubbling petroleum. The turbulent and overheated nature of Venus is reflected in a motif of like character.

5 "MOON" Now within the realm (or orbital attraction) of Earth, the Moon is perceived anthropomorphically, as a Goddess. Whatever she was called, in Atlantean times, she was probably the original archetype of Artemis of the Greeks, who was also the Roman Diana, the Huntress, Queen of the Wood. The musical cipher is a primal hunting call, in two-part harmony, based on the notes of the natural horn these being, of course, the primary notes of the harmonic series

6 "EARTH" Our home planet is depicted by a yearning melody, in parallel thirds forming harmonies of the major 7th and 9th against the tonic, moving in sequence through various related keys. The melody is developed in five contrasting variations, providing the longest set of variations in this 50-minute work for solo piano.

7 "ATLANTIS" This section employs leitmotifs and passages already introduced in an earlier work “Atlantis” for Flute/Alto Flute & Piano, (1990). A portrait of the Atlantean landmass and empire is woven from leitmotifs for "Poseidon", the founder (or coloniser?), "Cleito", his consort; "Atlas", first of their ten sons; and also from shorter motifs denoting seismic instability, "Trident", "Rift". Atlantis, as described by Plato was at the centre of a vast empire, and was founded by the god, Poseidon - portrayed as a mere human in my libretto (subsequently deified!). It was built on an island that sat on a rift and was subject to earth tremors.

8 ‘THE GOLDEN AGE” Part 1 closes with music that builds to an extended fanfare to illustrate the grandeur of Atlantis at the height of its fame as described by Plato.

ATLANTIS VARIATIONS FOR SOLO PIANO PART 2 (1992)

Composer’s notes - PART TWO

Musical ideas for the third opera, "Calypso In Exile" are developed in Atlantis Variations Part 2, and have been further explored in my 23-minute Narrative for soprano and wind quintet of the same title. (The libretto is in the form of a narrative and is sung!) The existence of many more islands in the Atlantic in ancient times is indicated on the so-called portolan maps which circulated secretly amongst mariners for centuries, and which were condemned as heretical by the Church. Surviving portolan maps dating from the 14th century are thought to have been copies of much older maps. (Columbus is thought to have had one.) Tradition ascribes the origin of magical practises to Atlantis. They are associated with female power. (Read “Female Magic” below). Several dances are heard, evocative of magical rites. (The Narrative was written in 2003 for the Canberra Wind Soloists on a commission from the Australian National University school of Music. During composition the Canberra Wind Soloists disbanded. The work still awaits its world premiere!)

According to the Greek philosopher, Plato, Atlantis was a patriarchal society founded by Poseidon. He divided his kingdom among his ten sons, of whom the most celebrated was Atlas. Among the children of Atlas was a rebellious daughter, Calypso. She was expelled from Atlantis for practising witchcraft, this being a remnant of the earlier matriarchal culture (which, in my reconstruction prevailed in Eden, where Eden is code for an earlier era on this planet). Like her sister Circe, Calypso set up her own kingdom (queendom?) on one of the many islands which dotted the Atlantic in antediluvian times (when the sea level was lower).

In my libretto for both the Narrative (and for the proposed 3rd opera) when we first meet Calypso, she is a rather frivolous young woman who has a particular fondness for sailors. She is annoyed when her father deprives her of the fun of living in a bustling seaport by banishing her, for "promoting riotous living". She regards her father's religion as rather pompous. In the opera her careless attitude towards men is later changed when she encounters a sailor with whom she actually falls in love - Ulysses! The opera also deals with military conflict between warring male- and female-dominated tribes. Among the latter are the Gorgons and the Amazons of West Africa, who attempt an invasion of Atlantis. In preparation for writing the opera, Atlantis Variations Part 2 explores the extremes of female/male polarity. Thus it is written in two sections:-

"FEMALE MAGIC": Musical ideas emerged from the following pathology: "Alluring, unnerving: that which understands logic and implies one premise but acts on another; that which seduces by promises of the expected, but retains power by delivering the unexpected; that which appears familiar, but remains elusive…" Three extended musical themes are introduced and explored through a succession of variations. "Maya" is a universal deity common to Greek ("Maia"), and to Indian and Amerindian myth. "Maya I" theme is melodic, and is heard first. "Maya II" is a chordal progression. They can be played separately or in polytonal combination. "Maya" is also heard in combination with Calypso's theme. The latter then assumes a Dance form to conclude this section. Other musical phrases are interwoven, which denote herbs and potions of natural medicine, used in the casting of spells.

9 “MAYA VARIATIONS” – "Atlantis Variations" Part 2 presents the Female in mythology: Maya (Maia) is a universal female deity common to Mayan and Greek myth, representing fertility and related aspects of the earth mother. Maya theme alternates with polyrhymic dance passages.

10 “MAYA COMPOUND VARIATIONS” Double invertible themes Maya I & II are further developed, exploring potential when used in opera.

11 "Calypso's Dance". The purpose of the witches' dance was to dispel doubt about the efficacy of a spell just cast. Calypso was expelled from Atlantis by her father, Atlas, for practising witchcraft. Music written in 9/8 time provides a capering effect.

"PATRIARCHY". This shorter section embodies various musical themes, processional, forceful, intense, which arose from the following pathology: "Law-maker, law-breaker, moral angst, phallic imperative, existential rage, scientific curiosity, religious fervour". An antique theme representing Atlas also figures prominently. The Atlantis described by Plato is patrilineal, and ceremonies conducted at the magnificent temple of Poseidon were dominated by male priests and the successive kings of Atlantis. The patriarchal system that developed must have displaced the kind of earlier matriarchal society which, according to Robert Graves, must have prevailed in antiquity. One is left with the impression that, in its later stages, Atlantis, under male influence, became an aggressive, colonising power. According to Plato, at the time of its destruction it was waging war against a coalition of European nations lead by pre-Hellenic Greeks. Two extended melodies, the first strenuous, the second aggressive, lead to an energetic climax.

12 "MALE ANGST”. The Male in mythology - The music reflects the conflicted male ego that seeks to dominate but is attracted to and, in reality, dominated by the female. The opera (soon to be written) depicts this eternal conflict!

13 "MALE FERVOUR" Aggressive figures dominate characteristic of patriarchy in an empire founded by Poseidon - an empire soon to end!

 ATLANTIS VARIATIONS FOR SOLO PIANO PART 3 (1992)

Composer’s notes PART THREE

In Atlantis Variations Part 3, the focus is on developing materials and entire passages suitable for incorporation in the final opera in which Atlantis is destroyed: “Atlantis Lost”.

14 "TRIPLE CONJUNCTION" The motifs of Venus, Moon and Earth are reprised, and then combine in triple counterpoint, a musical metaphor denoting the three bodies moving into triple conjunction. This section closes with a harmonically distorted reprise of music for “The Golden Age” which is about to end as a result of the "Triple Conjunction”. This attracts a rogue asteroid into collision with Earth. Leitmotifs combine and twist as the end approaches.

15."FIRE - IMPACT- DELUGE" " In the short space of two minutes actual-time, the asteroid is drawn into Earth's atmosphere, blazes more brightly than the sun, shatters in a terrifying concussion which reverberates across continents. Its debris scourges the earth with fire. It explodes into two monstrous boulders, kilometres wide. The boulders plunge into the ocean, creating huge tidal waves that deluge the surrounded landmasses. The earth is split asunder.

16 "PROCLAMATION" announcing the End Of An Age. Leitmotif and variations bridge to the final segments.

17 "THE END OF AN AGE" Red-hot magma pours from the severed rift in the ocean bed. The earth tilts on its axis. The poles move. The earth's crust is in upheaval. The global cataclysm causes the great parent civilisation, Atlantis, to sink into the sea. The planet experiences worldwide changes, which engulf the human race in two thousand years of chaos and darkness. To depict this scenario the work closes with passages quoting themes previously heard now reprised in the context of fragmentation, dissolution and chaos as Atlantis vanishes beneath the surface of the ocean.

We are survivors of survivors.

TRACK SUMMARIES WRITTEN BY DEREK STRAHAN

** BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY – at the time of composition, these were the books on Atlantis which I had read. Since then, I have read many more on Atlantis, and related topics pertaining to pre-history, global catastrophe, geology, archaeology, palaeontology and various theories about the past of the planet.

ATLANTIS, THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD” Ignatius Donnelly [1831-1901) Harper & Row reprint of 1971 ed. by Rudolph Steiner Publications

THE MYSTERY OF ATLANTIS” Charles Berlitz. 1977 Panther Books.

"DOOMSDAY 1999 AD” Charles Berlitz 1981, Souvenir Press.

"THE SECRET OF ATLANTIS" Otto Heinrich Muck. 1978, Book Club Associates

"ATLANTIS FROM LEGEND TO DISCOVERY” Andrew Tomes. 1978, Sphere Books

"ATLANTIS RISING" Brad Steiger. 1977 Sphere Books.

"ATLANTIS: MYTH OR REALITY'". Murry Hope 1991, Arcana.

“ATLANTIS DISCOVERED" Lewis Spence (1874-1955) First publish 1924. Republished 1974, Causeway Books

"THE OCCULT SCIENCES IN ATLANTIS" Lewis Spence, First printed Anchor Press, UK Reprinted, 1976, Health Research, California, US.

"ATLANTIS/EUROPE" Dimitri Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky (1865-1941) Republished, 1971 Rudolph Steiner Publications.

"ATLANTIS - A DEFINITIVE STUDY" George Firman. Limited Edition, Ist printing 1985 Hallmark Lithe, Inc.

** PERFORMANCE NOTES

ATLANTIS VARIATIONS FOR SOLO PIANO –

NOTES ON PERFORMANCE IN THE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE RECORDING

Live performance of music (or of any “performance art”) offers a unique kind of excitement, a sense of drama, which no other kind of performance can replace. Yet recorded performances of sound or sound and picture have been popular since the invention of the gramophone and the motion picture camera, and a vast modern industry has developed to satisfy public need for what are, in essence, mechanical reproductions of live art. In music and in picture the results of a search for the “perfect performance” have lead to an interface between “reality” art and “perfect” art that resembles the kind of “perfection” of which only the graphic arts hitherto have been capable.

A painter can continuously “edit’ his work – by painting over it, altering and amending it, until a “final’ result is achieved. The techniques which have been developed in visual and audio recording allow a similar kind of “editing” process to take place, so that, for example, a studio recording of a work of “classical” music rarely represents a continuous live performance. A recording plan is almost always in place to record the work in stages. If a recording is made in a single take, this is always mentioned in the liner notes, as being a kind of miraculous occurrence – as indeed it is, since live performance rarely achieves the kind of absolute perfection which is the ultimate aim of a studio recording. (A wonderful example of continuous live performances are the recordings of the complete Beethoven Piano Trios by Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pre, Daniel Baremboin and Gervas de Peyer.)

With the further developed of synthesised sound, now popularly referred to as “computer music” an entirely different, and inevitable development has taken place, lead by the film industry, which has changed the definition of what performance is, to the extent that, increasingly, music “written” for motion pictures, is achieved by its being performed by a “virtual” orchestra of synthesised sounds, or “sampled” sounds of real acoustic instruments.

In this development there is a great benefit for composers, as it allows the composer to be the performer of music that might not otherwise be performed, or not as soon as the composer might wish. A composer’s income depends on the performance of music, and if it is not performed, the music will not earn the composer any income, beyond what he (or she) may (or may not) have been paid as a commission fee.

While “virtual” music is now universally accept in film music (as is the increasing digitisation of image), the same does not apply in “classical” music, where the performer rules. Nevertheless, a “virtual” performance embraces exactly the same philosophy of an edited studio performance by live performers – to achieve a “perfect” performance – and it can serve the purpose of introducing a new piece of music both to the public and to performers who might not otherwise get to know of the work. The distinction between “real” and “virtual” in recordings is being eroded by technology. In digital editing of live studio performances it is today normal to achieve niceties of compilation, erasure of micro errors and tonal adjustments which were previously impossible in the era of tape editing.

The performance in the currently available recording of this work is a MIDI realisation from my piano score, which I wrote with the Sibelius music software program, and played using a sampled Bornhoffen piano acoustic, resulting in a “virtual” performance, known as a MIDI realisation (referring to the device which acts as interface between computer and the playback/recording device). In order to achieve some of the features of real performance, the score has to be extremely detailed. Every nuance of performance – dynamic level, touch, tempo fluctuation, use of pedal – each has to be minutely specified in the score, as the music software is sensitive to most aspects of “real” performance, but will only respond if “told” to. Every detail in every bar must be minutely prescribed to a degree that would not be necessary in writing for a human performer!

In this piano score, for example, dynamic level (degrees of loudness or softness) must be specified separately for each hand. Normally a general indication would be sufficient (unless each hand has a different dynamic). Every single tempo change, for any number of bars, must be indicated with a specific metronome reading (which is calculated on the basis of beats per minute). In published scores an Italian term (such as “allegro”) would usually be a sufficient indication to the performer. Most aspects of “expression” can be achieved by attending to these details. The software will not provide an accelerando or a decelerando, but an equivalent can be achieved by specifying incremental metronome readings for each successive bar. My aim has been to use technology to achieve a result as close to a ‘real” performance as possible. On listening to the recording, I believe it will be clear that this is a work intended for a virtuoso pianist, and it is my hope that, eventually, live performances by “real” pianists will take place.

Derek Strahan